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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25901203">according to plan</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilliancares/pseuds/jilliancares'>jilliancares</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Blade of Marmora Lance (Voltron), Getting Together, Langst, M/M, The Blade of Marmora - Freeform, swiftly followed by lance appreciation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:02:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,952</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25901203</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilliancares/pseuds/jilliancares</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p>“I’ll admit, we weren’t expecting you,” Kolivan says. “Did we miss a transmission from Voltron?”</p>
  <p>“No,” Lance says, “and I don’t want you to tell them I’m here, either,” he adds quickly.</p>
  <p>Kolivan’s eyes narrow. “They don’t know you’re here,” he concludes.</p>
  <p>“And I’d like to keep it that way. I want to join the Blade of Marmora.”</p>
</blockquote>After months of feeling unappreciated and ignored, Lance decides he's sick of it. Not even Keith realizes the new Blade is Lance.
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>145</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1740</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Voltron Stars🌌</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>according to plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hey guys!! this fic was prompted by @delpervert on twitter!! i had a lot of fun with this one, so i hope you enjoy it!!</p><p>ALSO. go ahead and check out my twitter (either @jacecares or @bluegaysonly) to learn about some ~interesting stuff~ i have going on. basically, there are ways you can send prompts to me, get writing advice, or even have me write you a fic every single month!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Allura’s scoff is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Or the planet that gave the weblum indigestion, as the Alteans might say.</p><p>Really, it’s the one indiscretion too many that sends Lance over the edge.</p><p>“Excuse me?” Lance says, feeling the anger that’s always too close to the surface these days boil right over the edge. He feels exhausted and agitated and fucking <em>ignored</em>, all the time, and that one little sound from Allura’s mouth pushes him to finally say something.</p><p>“What?” Allura says, turning to face him and blinking in surprise. Because of course she’s surprised, right? Lance has never stood up for himself before. He just lets them all get away with these little comments, with pushing Lance to the sidelines and ignoring what he has to say. They probably don’t even realize they’re doing it, funnily enough.</p><p>“You scoffed,” Lance says. His fists are clenched at his sides, his eyes burning into Allura’s. They’re all standing in the bridge, and everyone is looking at Lance with alarm. Like they can’t see where he’s coming from.</p><p>“Lance, it’s just — that plan would never work.”</p><p>“And why not?”</p><p>“There are too many variables,” Shiro says, stepping in. “If even one thing went wrong, everything would come crashing down. It’s too dangerous.”</p><p>“All of our missions are dangerous,” Lance argues. “This could work! We have the schematics for Galra battlecruisers. Shiro — you even know the patterns their droids are on. We could sneak through the ship and blow it up with no one the wiser. Keith’s done stealth missions before!”</p><p>He looks at Keith to back him up, but Keith’s already shaking his head. “It’s different with the Blades, Lance. We have an understanding. If anything goes wrong, you get left behind. And we can’t leave any of us behind. Everyone’s needed to pilot Voltron.”</p><p>“Plus, Keith’s not even going to be here for this mission,” Pidge points out. “So who would do it?”</p><p>“I could,” Lance says.</p><p>Pidge laughs. Even Shiro’s lips quirk up in amusement, and that’s when Lance sees red.</p><p>“What’s so fucking funny?” he snaps.</p><p>“Woah,” Hunk says. “Dude, calm down.”<br/>And what the hell happened to Hunk? Since when is he not on Lance’s side? He used to always back Lance up. He went along with Lance’s plans back at the Garrison, and rarely did anything go wrong for them. What is it about space, about Voltron, about <em>their team</em> that’s turned him against Lance?</p><p>Why does it feel like it’s all of them against him, all the time?</p><p>“It’s just,” Pidge says, waving her hand indistinctly. “You? On a stealth mission? You cheer every time you hit a target. <em>Lance</em> and <em>stealth</em> aren’t really two words that go together.”</p><p>Lance chews on the inside of his cheek, relishing in the pain, because without it his mouth would be running even more. He’d be yelling at all of them, and he’d probably be reprimanded for it, too.</p><p>“Sorry, Lance,” Allura says gently. “I just think we should continue brainstorming.”</p><p>“Whatever,” Lance says. “You guys never listen to me anyway.”</p><p>“Lance,” Shiro says, no doubt gearing up for a big speech, but Lance just rolls his eyes. He stalks out of the bridge, ignoring Allura’s calls to come back. He can’t find it in himself to care. He doubts they’ll even come up with a plan today, and if they do, they probably won’t bother to inform him of it until the day of.</p><p>Because somehow, they think that Lance is a joke.</p><p>Sure, he makes a lot of jokes. He uses humor in all kinds of situations, because that’s what he’s always done. But despite the fact that he tends to run his mouth and maybe uses humor as a coping mechanism doesn’t mean that he isn’t as dedicated to the cause as the rest of them. He’s a good soldier. He takes their missions seriously and he never slacks off.</p><p>So why do they always seem to forget that?</p><p>He’s only just made it to his room, planning to either lay in his bed and sulk or sit in his shower and sulk, when he’s interrupted.</p><p>“Lance,” someone says.</p><p>It’s Keith. Like always, Lance’s heart seems to forget how to work for a second in his presence. It started about a year ago, back when Keith was the pilot of the Black Lion and Lance his right-hand man.</p><p>He realized that he liked the way they worked together. Realized that the jokes he made at Keith’s expense had become lighthearted at some point, as opposed to the ones he’d made when they’d first ended up in space. Realized that his jokes no longer made Keith angry and instead made him grin, made him roll his eyes fondly and shake his head in fake annoyance. Realized that “mullet” wasn’t an insult, but a nickname, and only one of many.</p><p>Of course, then Shiro had come back and Keith had left and despite the fact that Lance was still Red’s pilot, he wasn’t treated much like the right-hand at all. No, he was pushed to the wayside, and no one cared. No one noticed.</p><p>“What?” Lance says, feeling exhausted and annoyed despite the fact that Keith’s presence usually served to cheer him up. With Keith off with the Blades half the time, his presence on the castle-ship has come to be something of a commodity. It always feels like things are getting back to normal when he returns, all the way up until he leaves again.</p><p>“What was that about?” Keith says, sounding curious instead of angry. He leans against the wall beside Lance’s door, looking at Lance with concern.</p><p>“Were you not hearing the same conversation I was?” Lance scoffs.</p><p>“It’s a good plan,” Keith says. “But it <em>is</em> dangerous. And if there are any other options, it’d be a good idea to explore them.”</p><p>“Sure,” Lance relents, “but it’s not just this plan. It’s <em>every</em> plan I come up with. It’s everything I <em>say</em>. They think I’m a joke, Keith.”</p><p>“No one thinks you’re a joke,” Keith says, and Lance is just — he’s tired. He’s tired of talking about this. Of no one understanding.</p><p>And why would Keith understand? He’s never here. He doesn’t see it. He has no idea what’s happening to them half the time, because he can’t reliably communicate with them when he’s away. And when he comes back, he only sees these seemingly little instances where Lance is disregarded, not realizing that they’re constant and ever-building. Not realizing that Lance has been pushed to his limits and is so Goddamn over it.</p><p>That’s when the idea strikes him.</p><p>Keith, constantly away, never having to deal with it.</p><p>And Lance… what if he was away? What if <em>he</em> didn’t have to deal with it?</p><p>“You’re right,” Lance says, smiling tightly. “Thanks, Keith.”</p><p>Keith smiles, relieved. He plants a hand on Lance’s shoulder, leaving it there for a moment too long. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he says. “I’m here if you ever need to talk.”</p><p>--</p><p>Lance doesn’t sleep that night. He goes into his room like everyone else, and he waits. Keith used to be up all hours of the night, but ever since he joined the Blade of Marmora, he’s been better at sleeping. He goes to bed early and wakes up even earlier.</p><p>What Lance is really waiting for is Pidge. She’s unpredictable, but most nights she stays holed up in the labs until well after 3 a.m., Earth time. Lance times it carefully, not wanting to run into her when she finally heads to her room, and he gets lucky. He walks down the dark halls of the castle with his bag on his back, and he makes it all the way to the pods unnoticed.</p><p>He’s not stupid enough to take Red. He knows they’ll need her more than he will, where he’s going.</p><p>He’s never piloted the escape pods before, but they’re pretty self-explanatory. He sets his bag in the passenger seat, enters his coordinates into the system, and leaves the castle-ship.</p><p>And maybe now they’ll realize what they’re missing when he’s gone.</p><p>--</p><p>“Blue Paladin.”</p><p>That’s how Kolivan greets him. It was a day and a half of travel with little sleep and the panic of dismantling the pod’s communication system when he realized the castle was trying to contact him. He was still far from his destination at that point, so he doesn’t think they know where he was headed, but it still makes him anxious.</p><p>Long story short, he’s tired and not ready to face rejection. And if Kolivan turns him down, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. He doesn’t want to go back to the castle-ship and face the fact that he failed. Nor does he want to go and camp out on some no-name planet, doing nothing to help the war.</p><p>“Kolivan,” Lance answers, standing up straight. Actually, he’s standing at attention, though he’s not really sure if that’s right. It’s what he would’ve done for an officer back at the Garrison, though, and he figures Kolivan is probably something like that for the Blades.</p><p>“I’ll admit, we weren’t expecting you,” Kolivan says. “Did we miss a transmission from Voltron?”</p><p>“No,” Lance says, “and I don’t want you to tell them I’m here, either,” he adds quickly.</p><p>Kolivan’s eyes narrow. “They don’t know you’re here,” he concludes.</p><p>“And I’d like to keep it that way. I want to join the Blade of Marmora.”</p><p>Kolivan’s mouth quirks up, but he has the decency not to laugh, at least.</p><p>“We barely let your Red Paladin into the Blades, and he’s half Galra.”</p><p>“I have a lot to offer,” Lance says. “I’m an excellent shot. And I’m not asking to be here forever. Just... for the time being.”</p><p>“You’re running from something,” Kolivan guesses.</p><p>“Not really,” Lance says. “But I promise to be an asset to you. I’ll work twice as hard as everyone else. You don’t even have to tell them I’m human. Just give me a suit and tell them I’m a new recruit.”</p><p>Kolivan stands there, silent. His arms are crossed, and his finger taps at his forearm as he thinks.</p><p>“Tell you what,” he says. “I’ll let you play your little game of hide and seek with your friends—"</p><p>“I’m not—"</p><p>“And in return, you’ll take the Red Paladin’s place on the missions while he’s away.”</p><p>“Deal,” Lance says, breathless. He hadn’t been expecting it to be that easy. He’d thought there’d be a lot more convincing involved.</p><p>“I’m trusting you because Keith speaks highly of the Paladins of Voltron,” Kolivan says sternly. “Don’t mess it up.”</p><p>—</p><p>Lance gets exactly what he was hoping for. A uniform which he dons immediately, not wanting word to get out that there’s a human amongst their ranks. Enough of the other Blades wear their uniforms around the base that Lance doesn’t even stick out, thankfully enough.</p><p>He gets his own room — one he shares with another Blade, actually, but that guy’s on a mission at the moment. He gets his schedule, training sessions that he’s already good at, thanks to Voltron, and his fair share of chores.</p><p>He even gets his first mission, much to his surprise. No begging, no arguing, no bargaining. Just <em>soldier, report to the main deck for briefing</em> and then he’s off. It’s a stealth mission, to boot, and Lance does fucking <em>great</em>. He proves his friends wrong, even if they’re not there to see it.</p><p>People around the base call him Sniper. Apparently, only a few of the higher ups go by their actual names. It’s a safety protocol, so that anyone who’s captured can’t give away the identities of the other Blades.</p><p>Lance can’t help wondering what they call Keith.</p><p>--</p><p>“Your friends are scouring the universe for you,” Kolivan tells him one day. Lance has been there for two weeks and has been on five separate missions already. He feels more useful than he ever has, and his anger at Keith for joining the Blades — which had burned hot in the beginning and simmered down over the months following — disappears completely.</p><p>He can see why he loves it here, sees why he feels so good about the work he does.</p><p>Sure, Lance spends a good chunk of his time mopping floors and serving up chow and training with the others, but when he goes on missions, he gets results. And when he suggests a plan — maybe a little too risky, maybe a little too dangerous — he isn’t shut down. Even when his ideas aren’t accepted, they’re often built upon. The people here recognize him for his battle strategies and skill on the field, and it feels good. It feels great.</p><p>“And how’s that going for them?” Lance asks, leaning against the wall. Kolivan doesn’t really intimidate him anymore. He seems all big and scary and important — the other Blades agree, and often stand at attention when talking to him — but for some reason he seems to have a soft spot for Lance.</p><p>Either his brash attempt to join the Blades sparked something in Kolivan, or something Keith mentioned endeared Lance to him. All Lance knows is that he trusts Lance’s opinions and respects his ideas. He also doesn’t mind when Lance jokes around with him, though Lance has only gotten him to laugh out loud once. Still, he suspects he’s often smiling under that mask of his.</p><p>“Not well,” Kolivan says seriously. “They’ve reached out to many allies in search of a lead, including me.” He’s silent for a moment. “I lied for you.”</p><p>“Kolivan, you big softie,” Lance says, grinning. His voice sounds different through the mask, but he’s starting to get used to it. It sounds all cool and future-like.</p><p>“When are you going to tell them?” Kolivan asks.</p><p>Lance sighs. “I don’t know. When they realize that they need me more than they think they do, I guess.”</p><p>“I think they realize that now,” Kolivan says. “All of your allies are searching for you now, too. They want you back.”</p><p>“Are you trying to get rid of me? Because I’d rather you just come out and say it.”</p><p>“No,” Kolivan admits. “You’re an excellent soldier, and some of our recent successes are because of you. But I don’t want you to forget what you’ve left behind.”</p><p>Lance nods slowly. He <em>does</em> miss them, he can admit that. He knows they’re his friends, it’s just that they’ve been bad ones recently. But he doesn’t feel quite ready to leave yet.</p><p>“Oh, and one more thing,” Kolivan says. “Your Red Paladin is returning to us tomorrow. Also, you’ve been sleeping in his room.”</p><p>—</p><p>Lance’s fear that Keith would recognize him instantly upon seeing him is quashed the moment Keith steps into their room. He throws his bag onto the bed, flops on top of it, and grunts, “Who are you?”</p><p>“Sniper,” Lance says. They’re both decked out in their full uniforms, and Lance wonders if Keith wears his around the base to hide his human-looking face as well. “You?”</p><p>“Red,” he sighs. Lance’s heart clenches, because that’s <em>his</em> nickname for Keith. He coined it first!</p><p>“Well, Red,” Lance says. “You seem tired. Must’ve been a hard mission.”</p><p>“Wasn’t on a mission,” Keith says. “I’ve been looking for someone.”</p><p>Lance’s heart flutters. He knows his team was looking for him, but it feels different hearing it from Keith. He almost feels guilty, knowing what he’s putting them through, but he also feels happier than he has in a while. And doesn’t he deserve happiness, too?</p><p>Keith quickly proves to be a recluse amongst the Blades, just like he was at beginning of their time in space with their own team. Short and snappy and grumpy all the time.</p><p>It took forever for him to come out of his shell and realize that they weren’t just a team. That they were friends, a family, and that they cared about him.</p><p>But it was a group effort, coaxing Keith out of his shell back then, and its immediately obvious to Lance that no one has done the same for him here. After only two weeks, Lance has made more friends than Keith has in the last several months, and Lance instantly tasks himself with changing that.</p><p>He gets Keith to sit with him and Bulk and Ears at lunch. Funnily enough, Bulk is a scrawny little dude and Ears actually has only one ear, having lost his right one in a battle years ago.</p><p>Keith allows himself to be subjected to their presence for lunch and Lance tries his best to not seem too familiar with him, constantly forgetting that while he knows Red is Keith, Keith has no idea that Sniper is Lance.</p><p>But after years of being friends, and months of being in love with the idiot, Lance has become pretty adept at bonding with him. The very next day, Lance makes a joke that surprises a laugh out of Keith. And the day after that, he sits with Lance and his friends without Lance having to hunt him down first.</p><p>After a week, Keith speaks to Lance without Lance having to initiate their conversations. He jokes back, always seeming gratified when he manages to make Lance laugh.</p><p>And after that first week, long after lights-out, Lance wakes up to find Keith sitting up in his bed, his face glowing thanks to the device he has open on his lap.</p><p>“Red?” Lance murmurs, peering blurrily through the room at him.</p><p>Keith startles, shutting the device guiltily and clearing his throat.</p><p>“It’s not morning,” he whispers. “Go back to sleep.”</p><p>“Where’d you get that?” Lance asks, ignoring him. Because he knows for a fact that that was some important equipment. The kind of equipment only higher ups got to use, and somehow Keith got his hands on one.</p><p>“I stole it,” Keith admits willingly. “But I’m going to put it back. I just need it right now.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Lance says. “How come?”</p><p>Keith’s sigh is loud and long. It sounds tired, and not just because he’s awake in the middle of the night. “I’m still trying to find my friend,” he says. “Don’t tell Kolivan, okay?”</p><p>“Must be a pretty important friend,” Lance says. His heart is pounding stupidly fast in his chest. He hadn’t realized that Keith would keep looking even while he was here, and while it might not bode well for Lance’s chances of staying hidden, it certainly bodes well for the crush Lance has been harboring for God knows how long.</p><p>“He is,” Keith says. “And it’s my fault he left.”</p><p>And that — well, that just throws Lance for a loop. Because how the hell did Keith come to that conclusion?</p><p>“How is that?” Lance asks, trying to sound only idly curious and not desperately curious.</p><p>“I didn’t listen to him,” Keith says. “I mean, I thought I was. But he was telling me about something that bothered him, and I kind of dismissed it. That night, he left. I should’ve been there for him.”</p><p>“You’re just one person,” Lance says, and suddenly he can’t understand how he got himself in this situation. Comforting Keith for his own disappearance. Offering Keith what he probably thinks are false assurances, when Lance could tell him right here, right now, that it certainly wasn’t Keith’s fault at all. “I doubt it’s your fault he left.”</p><p>“I could’ve changed things,” Keith says.</p><p>“Maybe,” Lance says. “But if he left on his own accord, I’m sure he’s all right.”</p><p>“It’s not just that,” Keith says, suddenly frustrated. “I can’t concentrate. I can’t stop wondering where he is, if he’s safe, if he’s hurting. And I — I’m in love with him. And if he never comes back, I’ll never be able to tell him.”</p><p>Lance’s mouth goes dry. His ears are ringing, and he almost wants to ask if he heard Keith right, but he shuts his mouth firmly despite the fact that Keith wouldn’t be able to see it hanging open anyway. And Keith’s clearly waiting for a response, not knowing that Lance is laying here in a state of shock, so Lance gets his act together.</p><p>“He’ll come back,” he says softly, hoping Keith thinks he sounds a regular amount of fond instead of a heart-wrenchingly in love amount of fond. “But you should get some sleep. We have a mission tomorrow.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Keith says quietly, and he slips the device under his bed and lays down. Despite Lance’s advice, he doesn’t manage to get much sleep himself that night. He lays there, staring at the ceiling, and has to tamp down his grin time and time again.</p><p>Because Keith is in love with him.</p><p>--</p><p>Kolivan stands at the front of the room, and the group of them that were selected stand in a formation before him. Keith is on Lance’s left, and somewhere behind them, Bulk and Ears are in the formation as well.</p><p>“Our target today is Battlecruiser G8-6C5,” Kolivan says. Beside Lance, Keith stiffens. It’s the same ship Voltron was planning to attack weeks ago. The one that caused the argument, the one that tipped Lance over the edge and sent him running across the universe.</p><p>It should be no surprise that Voltron hasn’t taken it down yet. They’re short a paladin, and they must’ve pushed offensive missions to the back burner while searching for Lance.</p><p>Still, Lance wishes this wasn’t the mission they were doing today. Not the day after Keith admitted that he was in love with his friend to Sniper, some anonymous Blade member that should have absolutely no clue who Red really was, or who the person he was in love with might be.</p><p>And Lance really, <em>really</em> wished he hadn’t told Kolivan about his attack plan mere days after arriving on the base. Because Kolivan had complimented his plan and taken note of it. Honestly, Lance had thought he’d already send other Blades out to do this mission.</p><p>But no.</p><p>“We’ll be following Sniper’s plan of attack today,” Kolivan says. It’s always a big accomplishment when one of their plans are utilized instead of those of the higher ups. Keith flashes him a subtle thumbs up from beside him, and Ears punches Lance in the back much less subtly in excitement.</p><p>But then Kolivan goes on to detail Lance’s plan. He talks about their invasion strategy. How one of their members — a Blade who was once kept prisoner on a battlecruiser — has memorized the patterns of the Galra’s droids. How their focus will be setting a bomb in the engine room and escaping from the battlecruiser, all without being noticed.</p><p>The exact same plan, almost word for word, that Lance had presented back on the castle-ship mere weeks ago.</p><p>Beside him, Keith stands stiff and unnaturally. He must know. He must realize that his new buddy is Lance. Because, come on, <em>Sniper</em>? The guy who’s name coincidentally coincides with Lance’s skillset? The guy who immediately took a liking to Keith and befriended him despite Keith’s efforts to remain a recluse?</p><p>But there’s no time to talk. They’re silent in the formation, listening intently to the plan, and then they’re being sent on their way to the ships. Keith ends up in a different ship, and they don’t talk. The mission is underway, and they’re both aware that Lance’s cover is blown, but neither of them get the chance to say anything.</p><p>--</p><p>The plan goes off without a hitch. The cruiser is destroyed, the Galra’s plans involving it and its precious cargo dismantled, and each and every one of the Blades returned to the base safe and sound, not a scratch on them.</p><p>Lance doesn’t even get the chance to explain himself. Keith grabs his arm and drags him into their room immediately, standing before him with his arms crossed and no doubt a thunderous expression underneath his mask.</p><p>“Um,” Lance says weakly. “Hi.”</p><p>“Lance,” Keith says, confirming what they both already knew, and Lance slumps in on himself. “Do you have any idea what you put us through?”</p><p>“Do you have any idea what <em>they</em> put <em>me</em> through?” Lance snaps. “Ever since you left, things have changed! No one takes me seriously. I’m surrounded by friends, and yet somehow, whenever you leave, I’m <em>alone</em>.”</p><p>The argument should last longer. Lance feels it building up in him, the points he’s going to make and the defenses he’ll employ, when it all drains out of him at a simple touch. Keith reaches out and links their fingers, and Lance melts.</p><p>“I’m tired, Keith,” Lance whispers. “I’m tired of being the odd one out. I miss you all the time, and I — I felt happy here. Like people actually cared about me.”</p><p>“Your team cares about you,” Keith says, his voice soft. He squeezes Lance’s fingers harder, as if he can press the meaning of his words into Lance if he just holds on hard enough. “Pidge built this insane DNA tracker using a piece of hair she found on your pillow. And Allura has half the universe looking out for you, scanning for you and that Altean pod. Everyone’s been beside themselves with worry.”</p><p>Lance swallows. “And you?” he says.</p><p>“You already know how I feel,” Keith mutters, pulling his hand away from Lance’s. He shifts uncomfortably, his gaze landing somewhere near the floor, which is when Lance steps forward and plants both of his hands on Keith’s shoulders.</p><p>“I can’t believe I forgot to mention this,” Lance says, his tone light and joking, “but I’ve kind of been in love with you for months.”</p><p>Keith, to his credit, doesn’t gasp. He doesn’t even stiffen. But he does say, his voice timid and cautiously hopeful, “What?”</p><p>Instead of repeating himself, Lance yanks off his own mask quickly followed by Keith’s.</p><p>“You heard me,” he says, and then he kisses him. Soft and sweet and incredibly tentative because despite the fact that he’s thought about doing this forever, he never thought he’d actually get to. And in contrast with all the fantasies and daydreams he’s created in his mind, having Keith this close, all he wants is to hold him softly. To brush his hair behind his ear and stroke his face with his thumb and brush their lips together so carefully that Keith leans forward in order to capture his lips more firmly with his own.</p><p>“Let’s go home,” Lance whispers, and so they do.</p><p>Bulk and Ears throw a fit when Lance tells them he’s leaving (he insists on stopping by their room before they depart, because despite his short stint here, they really have become good friends). Kolivan, on the other hand, seems oddly proud that Lance has apparently come clean. He takes one look at their linked hands and raises his eyebrows at Keith, who despite his mask, oozes an air of embarrassment.</p><p>And Lance will be getting <em>that</em> story out of him later, thank you very much.</p><p>Kolivan tells them that there’s an important mission coming up in a month, and he could really use both of their help. For a moment, Lance stands there in a state of shock, because he really thought he was just hiding here for the time being. That once he left, he’d never be able to come back. But he must’ve proven himself, must’ve earned Kolivan’s respect, and somehow Keith doesn’t seem surprised at all.</p><p>He just agrees, tells him that they’ll be back, and then they’re led to the pod that Lance stole, earning Lance a little headshake from Keith, because it was here at the base the whole time, just hidden in the back of the loading docks.</p><p>Thankfully, Keith knows how to fix the devices Lance dismantled. The second the pod is back online, they have an incoming communication from the Castle of Lions, which they accept after a moment of embarrassed reluctance from Lance.</p><p>All of their friends crowd the screen, and the worry on their faces bursts into relief the moment they see Lance.</p><p><em>“You found him!”</em> Pidge shouts.</p><p><em>“Are you both okay?”</em> Allura asks.</p><p><em>“Is Lance wearing a Blade uniform?!”</em> Hunk demands, and then they’re all talking over each other, shouting and laughing and relieved instead of angry.</p><p>And just like that, it hits Lance how much he missed his friends. How he missed running into Pidge whenever he woke up for a midnight snack, or sharing looks with Hunk during a brief. How he missed how serious Allura would get out of nowhere, one minute joking around with them and the next answering a distress call with complete professionalism. And how Shiro would constantly check in on them in battle, because Keith was right about one thing — while the Blades put the mission before the soldier, Voltron would never in their right minds leave a friend behind.</p><p>“I missed you guys,” Lance says quietly, once there’s even a moment for him to speak. “I’m sorry for leaving.”</p><p>“Lance, we’re sorry,” Allura says. “For making you feel unwanted and ignored. We’ll do better, I promise.”</p><p>“And you <em>have</em> to tell us about what you were doing with the Blades,” Hunk says.</p><p>“Everyone there loves him,” Keith scoffs, somehow managing to sound affectionate. The castle warps into space right in front of them, and Lance is grinning as he disembarks onto the castle, as he’s greeted by his friends and passed around to be hugged, as he tells them all about his adventure, as Keith casually links their hands while Lance is mid-story, causing them to be interrupted by a sharp-eyed Pidge, quickly followed by an emotional Hunk.</p><p>Yeah, Lance realizes. He really, really missed this.</p>
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